You sea! I resign myself to you also—I guess what you mean;
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers;
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together—I undress—hurry me out of sight of the land; 445
Cushion me soft, rock me in billowydrowse ; Dash me with amorous wet—I can repay you.
[22.1]
Sea of stretch’d ground-swells!
Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths!
Sea of the brine of life! sea of unshovell’d yet always-ready graves! 450 Howler and scooper of storms! capricious and dainty sea!
I am integral with you—I too am of one phase , and of all phases.
[22.2]
I am he attesting sympathy; 455
(Shall I make my list of things in the house, and skip the house that supports them?)
[22.4]
I am not the poet of goodness only—I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.
[22.5]
Washes and razors for foofoos —for me freckles and a bristling beard.
[22.6]
What blurt is this about virtue and about vice?
Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me—I stand indifferent; 460
My gait is no fault-finder’s or rejecter’s gait;
I moisten the roots of all that has grown.
[22.7]
I find one side a balance, and the antipodal side a balance; 465 Softdoctrine as steady help as stable doctrine;
Thoughts and deeds of the present, our rouse and early start.
[22.9]
This minute that comes to me over the past decillions ,
There is no better than it and now.
[22.10]
What behaved well in the past, or behaves well to-day, is not such a wonder; 470
The wonder is, always and always, how there can be a mean man or an infidel .
[22.11]
22.
You sea! I resign myself to you also—I guess what you mean;
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers;
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together—I undress—hurry me out of sight of the land; 445
Cushion me soft, rock me in billowy drowse ;
Dash me with amorous wet—I can repay you.
[22.1]
Sea of stretch’d ground-swells!
Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths!
Sea of the brine of life! sea of unshovell’d yet always-ready graves! 450
Howler and scooper of storms! capricious and dainty sea!
I am integral with you—I too am of one phase , and of all phases.
[22.2]
Partaker of influx and efflux I—extoller of hate and conciliation ;
Extoller of amies , and those that sleep in each others’ arms.
[22.3]
I am he attesting sympathy; 455
(Shall I make my list of things in the house, and skip the house that supports them?)
[22.4]
I am not the poet of goodness only—I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.
[22.5]
Washes and razors for foofoos —for me freckles and a bristling beard.
[22.6]
What blurt is this about virtue and about vice?
Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me—I stand indifferent; 460
My gait is no fault-finder’s or rejecter’s gait;
I moisten the roots of all that has grown.
[22.7]
Did you fear some scrofula out of the unflagging pregnancy?
Did you guess the celestial laws are yet to be work’d over and rectified ?
[22.8]
I find one side a balance, and the antipodal side a balance; 465
Soft doctrine as steady help as stable doctrine;
Thoughts and deeds of the present, our rouse and early start.
[22.9]
This minute that comes to me over the past decillions ,
There is no better than it and now.
[22.10]
What behaved well in the past, or behaves well to-day, is not such a wonder; 470
The wonder is, always and always, how there can be a mean man or an infidel .
[22.11]
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